Richie John Pais
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Jan 12: The singers came in a procession to the stage with century star Melwyn Peris. They then symbolically tossed up 100 colourful balloons into the sky. As the sun had already sunk then in the western sea, nobody could see how far the balloons would go. God was pleased and smiled. The angels were told not to cry with joy this time.
That was the beginning of the 100th Melwyn Peris Nite. The show went on to become a huge success.
It was exactly 33 years on Sunday January 11, 2015, since Melwyn started his journey from his first musical nite in 1981. May be he was destined to reach his century on the same day as the debut.
A 100 nites in 33 years, at an average of three per year. This is only statistics, there is much more to that. Melwyn not only finished his century, but did so in style. He proved once again that he is one of the biggest crowd pullers in Konkani. Thousands of them turned up to enjoy the historic nite. Henry D’Souza, Meena Rebimbus and Eric Ozario among other music fans were witnesses to this fact.
All chairs on the grounds at St Agnes special grounds were occupied. But hundreds of people watched the nite standing. As many as 18 singers sang the best of Konkani songs. ‘Ami tharam, Kalakaram’ a song dedicated to performers depicting their lives, was a special song of the nite. There was one more special - a song on rain named ‘Pavsa’. Unlike last time, there was not a single drop of rain till the end. Only drops which could be seen were tears of joy.
Melwyn Peris becomes the only composer and singer in Konkani after the late Wilfy Rebimbus to complete 100 nites.
The musical nite on November 23, 2014 which was supposed to be the 100th Melwyn Peris Nite was a huge success in terms of the number of people who attended. Yet Melwyn called it an incomplete nite as the rains did not allow all the songs to be performed. He decided to offer the whole package again on January 11. Melwyn thus created another history by combining two nites, both numbered 100 to complete his century.
Rony D’Cunha, Anitha D'Souza, Ivy D'Souza, Shilpa Cutinho, Robin Sequeira, Zeena Pereira, Nestor Peris, Rony Crasta, Doreen D'Souza, Jackline Fernandes and Edith D’Souza rendered their beautiful voices in the show. Jerry Rasquinha and his team members provided a generous dose of humour with comedy skits. Naach Sobhann added more spark with their amazing dance moves to some of the songs. A couple who had got married only a day before was part of the dance team.
Perhaps the greatest achievement of the show was hearing the voice of Melwyn Peris of yesteryears. It was not of Melwyn himself, but his son Nestor Peris. No Melwyn fan would say that Nestor sounded different from his father when he was young.
'Sangeeth Guru' Joel Pereira with the support from Roshan D'Souza Anjelore, Jerome Coelho, Muralidhar Kamath, Melwyn Fernandes, Theo Alvares from Goa and also musicians from Calicut and Trissur formed the orchestra.
Melwyn Peris at the end of the show was in tears when he thanked all the people who helped him to reach his century nite. He thanked the Almighty first.
There were four comperes in the mega show, all of them veterans in their own right. The roles of Jerry Rasquinha, Leslie Rego, Titus Noronha and Melita Pinto were admirable.
There was no stage programme. The crowd was treated to pure music, and needless to add, it was enjoyed by every single person in the audience.